Presently, rhinestones and nailheads are attached to textile products while the fabric is face down using hand, foot and mechanical or pneumatic presses fitted with a set of dies. In the case of rhinestones, either a rim setting, nail head or tiffany type setting is used. In the case of a rim setting, as shown in FIG. 1, which represents the prior art, the setting is placed face down in a bottom die that comprises a recess having a spring loaded sleeve. The upper die has an annular grove, and is activated downwardly to force the upward facing prongs of the rim setting through the fabric and then roll the prongs securely.
In the case of tiffany settings, as shown in FIG. 4, also representative of the prior art, the stone is placed face down in a cupped recess of the bottom die having a bore hole 8 running through its length. This hole permits chips of glass that would otherwise build up during repeated usage to drop through. The upper die has a spring loaded tapered pin 6 onto which is placed the tiffany setting. Placing the fabric between the dies, the prongs of the tiffany setting are forced through the fabric onto the cup shaped bottom die thus securing the rhinestone.
Manufacturers have adapted such apparatus to attach rhinestones in a right-side up orientation by having a hole drilled in the upper die (previously the lower die) and attaching an air fitting. This air fitting is attached to a vacuum pump using plastic tubing. Usually gangs of four or six presses are attached to a single pump. This permits a tiffany setting die to be used right side up by attaching the former bottom die (cupped) in the upper ram, and the former upper die (receding pin) in the lower press position. The vacuum holds the rhinestone securely face up in the upper die but allows it easily to be removed once the rhinestone is applied.
Similar considerations apply to rim setting dies and nailheads, which have the same construction as rim setting dies. Special dies are used which have a hole passing lengthwise through the post and shank permitting the vacuum to hold the nailhead face up (i.e., prongs down) in the upper die. All of these embodiments suffer from having to employ expensive vacuum devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,641,879 issued Jun. 16, 1953, discloses a method for temporarily mounting work pieces of minute dimension particularly for grinding and polishing operations of materials such as glass, plastics or metal in the manufacture of ornamental and industrial jewels, imitation stones, beads, bearings, buttons and the like. This patent describes an alternative to prior systems that used a readily meltable metal, a cement, an adhesive, plaster of Paris or pitch to attach the work piece to a holder. (Col. 1, line 35) The '879 patent describes as an improvement a method for using a film of water deposited between the work piece and the work support which is alternately frozen and thawed. A drawback of this system is immediately obvious. It is necessary to carefully control the temperature of the work Support so that the water is always in the correct phase (water or ice). That obviously requires the expense of refrigeration equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,414,598 issued Jan. 21, 1947, similarly discloses apparatus useful in the grinding of facets on precious stones. The apparatus comprises a holder made of a soft metal such as copper, aluminum, etc. (Col. 2, line 33) This is seated upon a hardened portion of the holder. A tool is forced down upon the stone driving it into the soft metal which conforms to the shape of the stone and holds it during subsequent grinding operations. The disclosure of that patent is not adaptable to solve the problem of the present invention. Rhinestones are not hard enough to survive being driven into a soft metal. Furthermore, the procedure would require an additional stamping operation merely to retain the stone. The operation would be performed with gravity supporting the work piece prior to the first stamping operation. Nothing in that patent suggests a solution to the problem encountered in having to invert settings in the prior art.